Islamic World Demands Peacekeeping Role
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Courtesy Of: IslamOnline.com
8/31/2006

Muslim leaders slammed the UN Security Council for failing to condemn Israel for its barbaric attacks on Lebanon, demanded an immediate end to the three-week-old offensive, and the inclusion of Muslim forces in any future peacekeeping operation, Reuters News Agency reported.

The Presidents of Iran and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, as well the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Azerbaijan are among the representatives of 18 Islamic States meeting today in Malaysia at an emergency one-day summit of the Muslim World's biggest political bloc, the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

"Until now, unfortunately, the international community is in paralysis," Malaysian Premier Ahmad Abdullah Badawi, the current Chairman of the 57-member OIC, said in his opening speech.

"The Security Council could not even muster the moral courage to condemn Israel for the attack on Qana or the killing of UN observers at Khiam," he added.

Mr Badawi also urged Muslim countries to offer troops for a multinational peace force in Lebanon.

"We must show preparedness to contribute forces for peacekeeping operations under the United Nations banner," he said, adding that "Malaysia is ready to do that."

Conveying the frustration of many people across the Muslim World, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the failure to halt the violence was "adding to popular anger" and could have "incalculable consequences for long-term peace in the Middle East."

For his part, the OIC's Secretary General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said that the Islamic World is "outraged" over international "double standards" on the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

"I am affraid that the anger of the Muslim masses is being transformed into permanent hatred against the aggressors and their implicit and explicit protectors," he said.

At least 900 Lebanese people, mostly civilians, have been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since Israel launched its deadly offensive in Lebanon, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told OIC delegates in a video message.

OIC officials said they're working on a draft communique that would seek to place Muslim "Blue Helmets" under UN control. It also calls for the establishment of an international commission to investigate Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza.

The OIC draft also calls for an immediate ceasefire, adding to the pressure on Israel and its superpower ally the United States to agree to end the fighting first and then deploy peacekeepers.

Many Muslim nations "asked the OIC to be more active in the peace building process and in the rebuilding of Lebanon after a ceasefire establishes peace," Mr Ihsanoglu told reporters during a break.


Source:
http://islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/world_full_story.asp?service_id=2448